PASTOR'S PERSPECTIVE

Love and Compassion - Rev. Jo comments on Valentine's Day

Love was celebrated last Saturday with red roses, chocolates and champagne dinners. Love is something we want. It is something we all need. Without love our hearts feel empty and our lives can seem to lack direction. However, love would appear to have been on a diet; its meaning has become thin and impoverished. Our Valentine’s Day Celebrations seem to be about only a small part of love - passion and romance. Both of these are important aspects of love but there is more to it. Love is what fills the human heart and gives us a sense of worth and dignity. To love is more than just to want a person or to have an intimate relationship with them.

Saint Valentine for whom the day for lovers is named was a 5^th Century monk imprisoned by the Roman Empire for his beliefs. The jailer’s daughter brought him his food each day. Theirs was not a romance but a passion in the true sense of the word. It was in fact com-passion; a coming together/a sharing of passion. The Latin for passion is patere meaning to suffer. Valentine and the jailer’s daughter understood each other’s suffering.

To love is to understand and share the sufferings of others. Love is often what prompts acts of kindness and generosity. Love is at the heart of unselfishness and sacrifice for the sake of others.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end. (1 Corinthian 13:3-7)

 

Vale The Right Reverend Barbara Darling

The Right Reverend Barbara Darling died Sunday 15th February at 11.20am in hospital after suffering a stroke on Saturday 7 February. Family and friends were with her when she died.

We morn her passing and pray for those who grieve her loss.

Rest eternal grant unto her O Lord and let light perpetual shine upon her.

Bishop Barbara (left chats) with Bishop Kay Goldsworthy (right)